Chicken Tikka Masala

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s Eve last night! My husband and I celebrated at our favorite sushi restaurant and had some incredible cuisine. New Year’s Eve is always a fun and special night for me, not only because it is the last day of the year but New Year’s Day is my birthday! It is always wonderful to ring in the new year and celebrate my birthday surrounded by close friends! So in honor of my birthday today I thought what better recipe to share with you than my absolute favorite recipe ever! I love Indian food, it is so flavorful and delicious. I found this recipe for Chicken Tikka several years ago and never looked back. Chunks of chicken breast marinated in spices and yogurt then grilled to perfection and simmered in a flavorful creamy tomato sauce. My husband and I agree that this recipe is even better than the local Indian restaurant in town. I personally like my Indian food really spicy, however, my husband cannot handle the heat so I usually cut down on the cayenne pepper and jalapeno for him. Otherwise he would be sitting at the dining room table sweating and in pain! If you like it spicy though, go ahead and add an extra teaspoon of cayenne pepper and the whole jalapeno pepper. No Indian meal is complete without some garlic naan and to help you handle the heat, go ahead and make some baba ghanoush which is perfect to help cool down your mouth!

I just found your blog via FoodGawker, and I cannot wait to try this recipe! My husband and I love to go out for Indian food. It looks like this recipe would be a hit. Thanks for sharing, and Happy Birthday!

Mmm. I like it. This is my son’s favorite meal whenever we’re in England. In fact, this is the number one restaurant meal in all of England, and your recipe looks like a real winner!
Oh, and Happy Birthday!

Thank you so much! I love all types of Indian food. My husband got me hooked on it after he traveled to India and spent two months over there. He brought back a bunch of traditional Indian spices and some great recipe ideas.

I just tried this recipe, but added a bit of cardamon and ended up being all out of paprika :/ I also used the 8 oz tomato sauce + a tin of crushed tomatoes (I wanted extra sauce:) ). After leaving the chicken to marinate over night…it is delicious! Tastes just like my favorite Indian restaurant in town. Thank you for posting!

I am so glad that you enjoyed it! I am a huge Indian food fan and this is one of my favorite recipes ever. Mmmm…now I am craving some! 😉 Thanks so much for commenting and letting me know how it turned out for you!

Hey Alicia! Hope everything is going well at 107 this year! I miss seeing everyone! I will have to stop by when we drive through on our way to cbus for the holidays. I am so glad that you have tried so many recipes-the pad thai is definitely one of my favorites. For the chicken tikka masala, I am assuming that you can’t find the garam masala, right? I have always bough mine at Penzey’s Spices on 82nd. Let me know how it turns out for you!

I made this twice and I can’t begin to tell you how delicious this recipe turned out! This is absolutely identical to my favorite Indian restaurant’s recipe. The first time I made it exactly as written, the second time I eliminated the salt because the first time it was way too salty for us. We also made your coconut rice and piled the chicken high on top, it was a fantastic meal! Thanks so so much!